Estonian Kringle

I received a note yesterday from my daughter’s school asking me to dress and prepare her for a short speech detailing what she wants to be when she grows up. I was and still am very irritated by that note. People don’t know what they want to be even at age 25 and here we want a 4 year old to think about it. So I asked her this morning and she belted out her standard reply -“I want to wear make-up”. The daughter has been surprisingly excited about make-up for the past year despite never having seen me in it. She would visit all the duty free stores and tell the saleswomen that she would come back when she gets older to buy her make-up and then she would make me walk with her telling her the name of each item and memorizing it.

Since that is not a job, atleast a conventional one, I dangled my apron in front of her and she caught the bait. So she now wants to become a ‘cooking manager’ with make-up. Since her dad and aunt have ‘manager’ in their designation, she thinks everyone who goes to office is a manager. Truth be told, she is already a cooking manager because she dictates what is to be cooked at home and tastes it first and approves it (almost always).

Since I have been baking bread for the past fortnight, she is excited about the dough doubling in volume and want to peak everyone few minutes to see how much it has grown. Then one day she declared she wanted butter and sugar in her bread. Thankfully I had this recipe that needed to get done and here we are.

The history of the Kringle is muddled like most other dishes. What is known is that it comes from the word ‘Kringla’ from Old Norse meaning ring or circle. One version directs the origin to Scandinavia and its immense popularity in Danish cuisine even today. It is almost mandatory to have a kringle for birthdays, weddings and Christmas. There is also a story talking about the kringle being an offshoot of the pretzel and how it also had two circles previously but now has evolved into a braided wreath shape. Another version pegs Germany as the originator of this buttery, sweet bread. Since Germany occupied Estonia, the kringle was also adopted by them and then Estonia excelled at this so much that it is called Estonian Kringle. The traditional recipe includes saffron, cardamom and raisins but most kringles these days have cinnamon and almonds in them.

I made them with cinnamon and almonds since the daughter loves them and it looks beautiful. So here goes –

Country – Estonia

Makes one large wreath serving 3-4 people

Recipe from here.

WHAT WE NEED

For the dough

All purpose flour                   2 1/4 cup

Salt                                           1/2 tsp

Milk, lukewarm                      3/4 cup

Sugar                                        1 tbsp

Instant yeast                           5 gms

Butter, melted                        30 gms

Egg yolk                                    1

For the filling

Butter, softened                       50 gms

Sugar                                          5 tbsp

Cinnamon                                  3 tsp

Ground almond (optional)     3 tsp

 

WHAT TO DO

• In a bowl, mix together the milk, egg yolk and melted butter
• In a large bowl, add the flour, sugar, salt and yeast
• Pour the milk mixture over the dry ingredients and mix well
• Knead the dough till it pulls away from the edges, about 8-10 minutes
• Shape the dough like a ball and place it in a greased bowl and cover with cling wrap
• Set it aside for an hour or till it doubles in size
• Mix together the filling ingredients to make a smooth paste and set aside
• Preheat the oven to 200C and line a baking sheet with parchment
• On a floured surface, roll out the dough to form an 18*12″ rectangle
• Spread the filling mixture on the dough leaving a 1″ gap from the edges and roll up the dough
• Cut the dough into 2 portions vertically leaving it joined at one end
• Braid the two ropes ensuring the open side is exposed and join the ends to form a wreath and pinch them together
•  Transfer the wreath to the baking sheet

• If you have any additional filling or some ground almonds left, sprinkle it over the wreath
• Bake for 15 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 180C and bake for another 10 minutes or till the top is golden brown
• Serve warm
• Enjoy!

 

This is my post for the Mega Marathon under the letter E.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 75

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